The present invention relates to a roof railing for motor vehicles and particularly to mounting supports at the ends of the railing. A roof railing has a tubular rail which extends spaced from and substantially parallel to the surface of the roof along a lateral roof frame. There are two supports at the opposite ends of the rail for attaching the roof railing to the roof of the vehicle.
A roof railing of this type is known, for instance, from Federal Republic of Germany A 40 04 829 which discloses a roof railing generally comprised of a rail on each side of the roof and at least two support feet for supporting each rail. The support feet are usually developed as metal castings with pins which engage the ends of the rail. These pins are aesthetically unpleasant because in practice, a gap with respect to the rail is unavoidably formed, and the pins form transitions which decrease the load bearing capacity of the roof railing.
In the roof railing for motor vehicles disclosed in Federal Republic of Germany 29 46 533 A1, the rails have a bend at each of their end regions. The downwardly bent ends of the rails can be fastened by screws or the like to the roof plate of a motor vehicle. This generalized statement does not teach a person skilled in the art since it is not clear how a screw or the like is to be fastened in the open end of a tubular rail.